CMO Spotlight | Jeannine D'Addario - Guitar Center

The CMO Spotlight is a chance to get an inside look into the minds and journeys of high-performing marketing leaders. 

Setup CEO Joe Koufman virtually sat down with Jeannine D'Addario, the Chief Marketing Officer for Guitar Center, to talk about her career path, challenges during Covid, how music provides hope and motivation, and more. 

“Always be authentic. Be authentic to who you are, who the brand is, tell that story...because if you feel it - it makes all the difference in brand loyalty.”

Watch the full interview below:

Q1 | Tell us about your career path.

Jeannine D'Addario started her career in the Beverage industry with Coors Brewing company. She worked there for a decade and then took her experience to Pepsi where she worked on carbonated drinks. After Pepsi, D'Addario moved to the Walt Disney Company, a brand that she always admired, and worked as the VP of Marketing. She was recruited out of Disney to work for Stanford Medicine as their CMO. After Stanford, she worked as a Consultant for the rising CMO of Applebees, and then ultimately was recruited to Guitar Center.

During her time as a marketer, she has taken opportunities that required her to travel throughout the US. This caused her to embrace risks or changes as new adventures, and that mentality and adventure mindset has served her well. 

Q2 | What is your superpower? 

“Humor. It’s the way you break the ice.”

D'Addario understands the importance of adding humor to everyday situations.           

“It's the way you make difficult situations a little bit less so, and having fun is part of it. It's sort of that tie in of your willingness to be adventurous and optimistic and have a sense of humor and a little sense of fun.” 

Q3 | Is there a piece of advice that you would like to pass onto other marketers?

“The best advice that I would give anybody is ‘give it a try.’ Consider [your career] an adventure.”

She continued to say that “being flexible and thinking through what you really want in the opportunity” is the best way to navigate your career.

Q4 | What values are important to you as a leader?

“ [I look for the] willingness to look at things differently to examine things not just from what I know but based on multiple perspectives. To me, that’s a really important part of being a marketer”

D'Addario compared what she finds inspirational to a musician's journey. She explained that musicians are multifaceted and each one is at a different stage in their journey, and that is similar to consumers. The inclination that marketers have to investigate further is what she really values. “Having that willingness to look at different perspectives is really important, and it also allows us to create more of a personal connection to the customer.”

For more marketing leadership advice and a view into the mindset of marketing executives in various industries, be sure to watch the full interview with Jeannine D'Addario, and keep an eye out for more thought leadership from our CMO Spotlights.